My favorite fund raiser is our annual Vegi-Chili Cookoff. The contest entrance fee is 1 gallon of vegi-chili in a crock pot.
Mulitiple entries are permitted.
The pots are numbered and ballots are sold to judge which chili is the best.
We usually charge $4.00 for the adult ballot (ticket).
The ballot allows the judges to eat all the chili they want and vote for their favorite.
The cook for the chili voted to be the best, gets a $5.00 trophy that reads "Best Chili of 2005" for example.
Pathinders provide lemonade, bowls, spoons, cups, and crackers.
Using this method, all the food is donated and cooked by the contestants.
At the end, all the contestants take their crock pot home with them.
Minimum cleanup required. We usually clear about $200.00 for the evening and eat a lot of good chili. (This is with a church of 125 members)
We have also combined this event with a bake sale.

We do an annual Trash-A-Thon, which is really fun. We go around local communities and pick up trash in public areas. We make money by having people 'sponsor' us to help the community. Each kid gets a sponsor sheet, and generally everybody makes about $200.00 a peice.

My favorite fund raiser is our annual Vegi-Chili Cookoff. The contest entrance fee is 1 gallon of vegi-chili in a crock pot.Mulitiple entries are permitted.The pots are numbered and ballots are sold to judge which chili is the best.We usually charge $4.00 for the adult ballot (ticket).The ballot allows the judges to eat all the chili they want and vote for their favorite.The cook for the chili voted to be the best, gets a $5.00 trophy that reads "Best Chili of 2005" for example.Pathinders provide lemonade, bowls, spoons, cups, and crackers.Using this method, all the food is donated and cooked by the contestants.At the end, all the contestants take their crock pot home with them.Minimum cleanup required. We usually clear about $200.00 for the evening and eat a lot of good chili. (This is with a church of 125 members)We have also combined this event with a bake sale.

Hope this idea helps

Mr MikeChairman - ARKLA Pathfinder/Adventurer Council (PAC)

That sounds like a lot of fun! I would have loved to go to that. I guess people out here don't eat a lot of chili, though.

Here at the local fairgrounds there's a Statewide Chili Cookoff that the community goes all out in... it's a big deal here too. Great idea, YAY! @ minimal cleanup, and alot of fun even if it's not a huge fundraiser. Thanks for the idea

Our club does the Chili Cookoff, but we just have the staff members judge it. I think it would be better for ticket selling if the buyers got to judge.

We also have carnival-type games (dunk tank, baseball toss, face painting, etc.) and sell tickets for them. We also have a bake sale at this event too. If our pathfinders would actually sell tickets... Any tips for that? If they would sell tickets, it would attract many people. Maybe they don't like chili, but they like games and cookies! Or maybe they hate games, but they love chili!

_________________Graduated TLT, Master Guide

"The union of all strengthens the work of each." ~Ellen G. White, 1SM 84.3